Passed out

Assembly

One.

He hated school, but that didn't explain this feeling. Kicking his feet under the blanket, he had a gut instinct. The feeling that something was wrong. Not the usual teenager-school case, but something deeply, and utterly, wrong.

Shaking off the feeling, he steadied his breath. The room was stuffy, moist with perspiration and sweat. He brushed his fingers back through his hair, deciding he needed a haircut, before realising what time it was. His legs quickly went to stand up - but his body refused as the smell of his room nearly made him pass out. After two more attempts, he finally stood up whilst fighting the urge to vomit. His senses were bombarded by the odour of fat and grease, as well as the smell of burning egg. After unravelling himself from his blankets he stepped over the rubbish and drawings that coated his bedroom floor, not caring what he stood on. The droning sound of the fire alarm assaulted his ears from down the hallway. He tripped over his boxing gloves, swearing at the mess. "Mom!" he yelled, stepping into the darkness of the steamy kitchen, fumbling for the light switch. The sound was irritating, so he bashed the alarm with the mop. By the time the light was on the noise had gone away, and he saw the charcoal mess that filled the frying pan. He edged closer, finding out the hard way that the burnt egg was the cause of the terrible smell. Five minutes later the eggy mess was in the bin. The scrawled note from his mom saying she was out and breakfast was cooking had fallen onto the floor, somewhere amongst rubbish.

Buttoning his shirt up, he made his way outside, locking the front door, another thing his mom had forgot to do. He looked at his watch, seeing he only had ten minutes to get to school on a rusted green bike with a broken wheel. If his mom could've been bothered to wake him up on time, then maybe he would of had a better chance of making it. He cursed under his breath as he made his way out the drive, trying his hardest to peddle on what little of a bike he had left. He got  half way up the road, before the tires hissed and collapsed. Great.

* * *

The sign next to the school saying 'Birmingham Comprehensive' had several things painted on it, but none of them were anything to do with the school. By the time he stepped through the rusted red school gates, which had paint dropping off like autumn leaves, he didnt even bother to go to his locker as it would only make him more late. He pushed through the main doors of the school, continuing down the corridor which had few people standing in it.

* * *

It took nearly five minutes for the secretary to hand him the book to sign in, and with her spindly fingers she pointed awkwardly to where he had to write his full name and the current time, which was now 08:42. The wart faced secretary smiled crookedly as she read his name out loud, "So Luke Reines. Why are you late this time?" He didn't say anything, and she grinned which made her look even uglier than before "Your Mum again?". There was a pause, and she shook her head "Your Mum. Again.". She tutted and closed the book, but Luke had already walked off by the time she'd re-adjusted her coffee stained white shirt and gone to tell him to get to class.

A few hallways down and he walked into his form room. His form tutor, Mr.Richardson, scowled at him for being late, but Luke simply bowed his head and apologized. He'd had a rough time in year eight when his dad left, but Mr. Richardson had always been there to talk to. After a couple of boring minutes flicking through his work book, Jade appeared in the classroom door way.
"Hey Luke," she said, brushing her hair behind her ear. The conversation lasted a while, turning from school to the previous weekend. For the most part, Luke listened quietly as Jade told him how she had helped her dad fix his motorbike. The most interesting part of  his weekend was visiting his Nan who gave him money for a chippy. "Maybe you could come and help my Dad with his motor bike," Jade sniggered,
"Yeah, guess you could use someone who knows what he's doing," he laughed.
"I was thinking more of you making the tea, but oh well,".